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I don't get it. When prices are high, it's a housing crisis. When prices are going down, it's a housing crisis. It's almost as if news articles just need to be written regardless of the reason.
When will we learn that a "strong" housing market is not necessarily a good thing? High housing prices are great for those who already owned houses but terrible for everyone else (e.g. the entire generations born after prices became inflated). Not to mention people are greedy and will over leverage themselves when interest rates are good. No country should let the "landed gentry" hold them hostage over interest rates…
Shouldn't home prices rise the same rate as inflation? The % of salary people devote to housing shouldn't increase by a large amount each year. And people's salaries don't rise that much year to year either. It rises the same rate as inflation.
I don't get it. When prices are high, it's a housing crisis. When prices are going down, it's a housing crisis. It's almost as if news articles just need to be written regardless of the reason.
Maybe housing shouldn't be a market system. Instead, housing should be free and landlords should be abolished.
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> Too long mortgages (100 years or more) means nominal prices are high which add to the risk That is absolutely bananas. Almost like a Chinese-style 99 year lease. Your kids might be dead by the time it's paid off, you'll never own it. Edit: apparently the AVERAGE mortgage term is 140 years! Just recently the Swedish government limited the maximum mortgage term to 105 years. That is some absolutely stupid policy.
Wow. And I've seen people here (justifiably) roll their eyes over 6 and 7 year auto loans. A 140 year mortgage can't possibly be appreciably different from renting.
When will we learn that a "strong" housing market is not necessarily a good thing? High housing prices are great for those who already owned houses but terrible for everyone else (e.g. the entire generations born after prices became inflated). Not to mention people are greedy and will over leverage themselves when interest rates are good. No country should let the "landed gentry" hold them hostage over interest rates…
Not unless you are ready to sell, otherwise it kind of sucks to have your property taxes go up 10-20% every year.
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> Too long mortgages (100 years or more) This is basically a mortgage and reverse mortgage in one package, isn't it?
> This is basically a mortgage and reverse mortgage We don't have a specific term for "mortgages" as meaning home loans - we treat them as any bank loan. I hadn't heard the term "reverse mortgage" before, so had to look it up. It's not quite that (interests are always paid).
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Could this be a result of Ireland being somewhat of a tax haven? If there's a lot of capital just sitting in Ireland waiting to be repatriated, it might make sense to invest that money within Ireland in the interim. That would increase demand for housing in the short term. The main thing to worry about would be that your housing market could experience a crash whenever that money does get repatriated
No, it's nothing to do with Apple's tax arrangements. They're not in the business of buying houses. It's a simple supply and demand issue. There are a lot of young people who want to buy a home, and not enough housing stock to meet their requirements.
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Wow. And I've seen people here (justifiably) roll their eyes over 6 and 7 year auto loans. A 140 year mortgage can't possibly be appreciably different from renting.
A car decreases in value each year, houses on average over time increases in value. Rent also increases but the loan don't increase so only changes in the interest will change how much you have to pay. (Not saying 140 year mortgage is a good thing, plan to pay down mine in 10-15 years if I don't move, but still think it could be better than renting)
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Jeez, nobody said the desire to own your home was irrational, by definition. You can have a rational desire to own a home or you can have an irrational obsession. Irrational obsession would include things like when you prioritize homeownership over financial security and other basic necessities like healthcare or food. For example I know someone who gave up health insurance to buy house - and she readily admits this.
You don't have to pay for health insurance in Sweden.